Employees at Crane Army Ammunition Activity, a JMC subordinate installation load munitions to a container for shipment to the Joint Warfighter.

Employees at Tooele Army Depot, a JMC subordinate installation, stage munitions prior to shipping to the Joint Warfighter.

One crucial task required for Joint Munitions Command to achieve its desired end state for worldwide munitions synchronization is modernization of the process by which demand signals flow to the enterprise. A strong logistics demand signal process is necessary to achieve optimal logistics performance. Modernizing this process in terms of standardization, precision, and automation will enhance the rapid projection of support from the SSA, while ensuring that JMC’s information systems have the data required to facilitate the next level of readiness reporting under SABRE (Strategic Support Area Business Reporting Environment) and Vantage (a data integration and analysis platform that facilitates intuitive analysis of Army data sources).

One area on which JMC experts are focused is the process for call forward requests from areas outside the contiguous United States. The current procedure is heavily reliant on manual processing from Army Service Component Commands and has multiple touch points within Headquarters, JMC that are also manually driven. The War Plans Division has initiated a two-phase approach to tackle this issue.

Phase One focuses on achieving standardization by prescribing to all customers the exact information and format required to process each requisition. The format and level of detail currently vary from one customer to the next. JMC is in the process of conducting a standardization Proof of Concept using the next Army Pacific call forward mission as a test case.

Phase Two builds on the standardization achieved in Phase One by implementing an automated solution. The future process will synchronize call forwards with munitions requirements distribution planning, enabling improved allocation using tracking, faster requisition process cycle times, and more lead time for depots. JMC is leveraging the National Level Ammunition Capability system to automate the OCONUS call forward process.

Transitioning to a system-based procedure will result in a more efficient process that is ready, not reactive, and thus able to deliver munitions worldwide at the speed of war. As an enterprise, JMC often focuses on readiness from the stockpile vs. worldwide demand perspective, but Logistics Process Readiness is an important tool in JMC’s effort to be ready, efficient, and adaptive, evolving logistically in concert with the needs of the Joint Force.